SHOELACE DECORATION
A shoelace ornament has an upper body, a lower body and a hinge that hingedly couples the upper body to the lower body at one respective end of each of said upper body and lower body. A lock across the hinge serves to lock the upper body to the lower body. The upper body and the lower body define therebetween, when the ornament is in a closed position, a shoelace opening for the passage therethrough of a shoelace threaded through a footwear article. The shoelace opening is configured to receive the shoelace therein with just enough force to hold onto it, without excessively pinching or squeezing the shoelace between the upper and lower bodies, regardless of whether the shoelace is round bodied or flat bodied.
The present invention is generally directed to clothing accessories and, more particularly, to decorative elements that are shaped and configured to be freely attached and dis-attached from shoelaces.
A large body of prior art is directed to accessories that are used for attaching decorative or ornaments to shoelaces or to devices that grasp the tied, free ends of the shoelaces to prevent them from becoming untied.
In general, one objective of the present invention is to provide decorative or ornamental elements that are freely and easily attachable and dis-attachable to and from shoelaces, holding onto but avoiding excessively pinching, squeezing or otherwise possibly harming the shoelaces, while simultaneously attaining a good and stable attachment of the ornament to the shoelace.
The prior art is exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,715,094; 5,022,127; 8,782,860; 5,649,342; and 7,559,127. The prior art is also exemplified by U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2016/0081432; 2009/0077778; 2005/0132546; 2015/0296923; 2007/0169382; and 2019/0059518. The prior art is further exemplified by foreign patent documents including KR 20100106269A; CA 2704323; CN 2029501070; JP 3148372U; KR 20140072691; KR 20160110318A; CN 2049305480; KR 10133887B1; KR 101512325B1; and KR 20130017528A.
The aforementioned U.S. patents and patent publications are incorporated by reference herein.
Briefly commenting on some of the mentioned prior art, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0081432 describes a one piece locking device for a shoelace that is also decorative. Its main purpose it to prevent tied shoelaces becoming untied. It has two hinged components with serrations both above and below that pinch and might punch through a shoelace material. Another reference is primarily configured for attaching ornaments to the dangling free ends of the shoelace. The mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,094 similarly is primarily configured to prevent untying of shoelaces and uses serrations to pinch the shoelaces.
To the present inventors' knowledge, the known prior art does not meet the objective of stably grasping onto a threaded portion of the shoelace without pinching it and while being able to hold onto the shoelace stably and attractively.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide easy to use ornaments for laced shoes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ornament that can be easily attached and dis-attached from a shoelace, even on a donned shoe which has already been laced and tied.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a shoelace attachment for an ornament that functions without pinching the shoelace, and which snugly fits around the shoelace, regardless of whether the shoelace has a round or a flattened construction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ornament or decal mounting structure for a laced shoe that can interchangeably accommodate a large and variable selection of ornaments to meet different fashion needs that can vary daily or even over shorter time periods.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mounting portion for an ornament for a laced shoe that is made of two interconnecting parts so as to allow changing the ornamental portion without unlacing the shoe.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are realized in accordance with the present invention by a shoelace ornament with an upper body, a lower body and a hinge that hingedly couples the upper body to the lower body at one respective end of each of said upper body and lower body; a lock that effects locking of the upper body to the lower body; and the upper body and the lower body defining therebetween, when the ornament is in a closed position, a shoelace opening for the passage therethrough of a shoelace threaded through a footwear article, wherein the shoelace opening is configured to receive the shoelace therein without pinching or squeezing the shoelace between the upper and lower bodies, regardless of whether the shoelace is round bodied or flat bodied.
Preferably, the opening comprises a centrally located circular shaped opening that merges into at least one flat shaped and adjacently located opening or the opening comprises a centrally located circular shaped opening that merges into and is flanked on opposed sides thereof with left and right flat openings sized to accommodate together a flat bodied shoelace.
Preferably, the opening comprises the first opening and a second opening, wherein the second opening is juxtaposed to the first opening across a hollow interior between the upper body and the lower body, and wherein the shoelace is configured to extend through both the first opening and the second opening.
Preferably, the upper body has an upper surface that is textured ornamentally and the ornament comprises a selectively attachable and dis-attachable ornament that configured to be secured to an upper surface on the upper body, in a position to be visible when the shoelace opening is mounted to a shoelace of a shoe-laced shoe. The shoelace ornament is configured to interchangeably receive one or more ornaments at an upper surface located on the upper body. The upper surface is sufficiently large to accommodate several ornaments interchangeably and simultaneously.
Preferably, the lock comprises a locking pin that is spring biased to extend out of one of the upper body and the lower body and to be received inside a juxtaposed lock element receiving hole. The lock may comprise one or more mechanical snaps. The lock may comprise at least one magnet located on one of the upper body and the lower body for attracting and securely holding onto ferromagnetic material located in the other of said upper body and lower body. The lock may comprise a holding projection extending from the upper body, at a position to assist the separation of the upper body from the lower body when the lock is operated to an open state. The lock may be juxtaposed to the hinge.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The housing parts 14, 16 define at the right and left sides of the ornament 10 shoelace-shaped openings 20, more specifically a right side opening 20a and an identical left side opening 20b, as shown in
Turning to
In
Referring to
As previously described, the locking mechanism 1430 has a knob 1432 which can have a knurled surface 1432a allowing easy grasping and sliding so as to easily release the locking pin 1434 from a locking hole that is provided in the locking arm 1439 which is part of the upper housing 1414. The large void 1425 between the upper and lower housing parts provides a space through which the shoelace passes when it is threaded through the left and right openings previously described.
The overall design provides a symmetrical look with the shoelace being capable of being perfectly centered. In general, the same mechanism can be adopted into both standard plate-like designs, as well as sculptural designs such as designs that show a winged basketball or a teddy bear playing the guitar.
With specific reference to
In
In
The combination of a torsion spring opening bias and a compression spring based sliding male-female lock 1430, creates a mechanism which is user friendly and is easy to operate while remaining secure and minimizing risk of accidental opening. By ensuring high quality springs are used, pieces can be designed to last a long time.
Other embodiments of the invention employ the general construction concept described above, but are provided in different formats utilizing different closure mechanisms and different shapes. With reference to
In the same vein,
Similarly, the ornament 730 of
Deviating somewhat from the prior embodiments, the ornament 810 of
Turning to
The same concept of
While the present invention has been described above in a form where a single ornament or decal or decorative element is attachable to the shoelace, in
The user can choose the ornament shape and its orientation relative to the shoelace. The mount 1110 can accommodate several or even very large ornament to fit the fashion statement, the event or just the moment. To a sports event, the ornament(s) will be sports oriented, while for a formal event the ornaments may comprise expensive jewelry pieces.
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A shoelace ornament, comprising:
- an upper body, a lower body and a hinge that hingedly couples the upper body to the lower body at one respective end of each of said upper body and lower body;
- a lock that effects locking of the upper body to the lower body; and
- the upper body and the lower body defining therebetween, when the ornament is in a closed position, a shoelace opening for the passage therethrough of a shoelace threaded through a footwear article, wherein the shoelace opening is configured to receive the shoelace therein without excessively pinching or squeezing the shoelace between the upper and lower bodies, regardless of whether the shoelace is round bodied or flat bodied.
2. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the opening comprises a centrally located circular shaped opening that merges into at least one flat shaped and adjacently located opening.
3. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the opening comprises a centrally located circular shaped opening that merges into and is flanked on opposed sides thereof with left and right flat openings sized to accommodate together a flat bodied shoelace.
4. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the opening comprises the first opening and a second opening, wherein the second opening is juxtaposed to the first opening across a hollow interior between the upper body and the lower body, and wherein the shoelace is configured to extend through both the first opening and the second opening.
5. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the upper body has an upper surface that is textured ornamentally.
6. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, further comprising a selectively attachable and dis-attachable ornament that configured to be secured to an upper surface on the upper body, in a position to be visible when the shoelace opening is mounted to a shoe lace of a shoe-laced shoe.
7. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the shoelace ornament is configured to interchangeably receive one or more ornaments at an upper surface located on the upper body.
8. The shoelace ornament of claim 7, wherein the upper surface is sufficiently large to accommodate several ornaments interchangeably and simultaneously.
9. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the lock comprises a locking pin that is spring biased to extend out of one of the upper body and the lower body and to be received inside a juxtaposed lock element receiving hole.
10. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the lock comprises one or more mechanical snaps.
11. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the lock comprises at least one magnet located on one of the upper body and the lower body for attracting and securely holding onto ferromagnetic material located in the other of said upper body and lower body.
12. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, further comprising a holding projection extending from the upper body, at a position to assist the separation of the upper body from the lower body when the lock is operated to an open state.
13. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, wherein the lock is juxtaposed to the hinge.
14. The shoelace ornament of claim 1, further comprising a spring to bias the upper body and the lower body to move away from each other.
15. The shoelace ornament of claim 3, wherein the opening comprising the centrally-located circular-shaped opening and the left and right flat openings define a composite opening for shoelaces with a bottom surface that is concave in a direction facing toward the upper body.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 23, 2020
Publication Date: Mar 24, 2022
Inventor: Siddhant Kothari (Mumbai)
Application Number: 17/030,001